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. 2022;23(7):3161-3178.
doi: 10.1007/s10902-022-00539-w. Epub 2022 Jun 6.

The Roles of Social Media Use and Friendship Quality in Adolescents' Internalizing Problems and Well-being

Chantie Charissa Luijten  1 , Daphne van de Bongardt  2 , Anna Petra Nieboer  1
Affiliations

The Roles of Social Media Use and Friendship Quality in Adolescents' Internalizing Problems and Well-being

Chantie Charissa Luijten et al. J Happiness Stud. 2022.

Abstract

Adolescents spend increasing amounts of time using social media, but whether social media use has a beneficial or harmful role in internalizing problems and well-being during adolescence remains under debate. The present study explored associations of social media use and friendship quality with adolescents' internalizing problems and well-being both concurrently and longitudinally, including the exploration of interactive effects between social media use and friendship quality and the examination of gender differences. Online questionnaire data collected in Spring 2018 and Spring 2019 from 1,298 Dutch adolescents aged 11-17 years (mean age 13.7 ± 1.1 years, 53.2% girls) were used. Path analyses showed that, cross-sectionally, girls (not boys) who used social media more frequently had more internalizing problems and lower well-being. Boys and girls with higher-quality friendships reported fewer concurrent internalizing problems and higher concurrent and longitudinal well-being; the association with internalizing problems was significantly stronger for girls as for boys. We found no significant interaction between social media use and friendship quality. Thus, the present study indicates that social media use and friendship quality have unique roles in adolescents' internalizing problems and well-being. Furthermore, the findings support the importance of gender-specific approaches to decrease adolescents' internalizing problems and enhance their well-being.

Keywords: Adolescence; Friendship quality; Gender; Internalizing problems; Social media use; Well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of InterestThe authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Significant two-way interaction effects of gender and social media use or friendship quality on adolescents’ internalizing problems and well-being
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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